The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to a holder for an electrical component, and more particularly to a holder for holding an electrical component to a circuit board during a soldering operation.
Antennas are electrical devices that convert electrical power into radio frequency (RF) waves, and vice versa. Antennas are used with RF transmitters and RF receivers for respectively transmitting and receiving RF waves. In transmission, the RF transmitter supplies an oscillating RF electric current to the terminals of the antenna, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as RF waves. In reception, the antenna intercepts some of the power of an RF wave in order to produce a tiny voltage at the terminals of the antenna, which is applied to the RF receiver.
Some known antennas are mounted to circuit boards. For example, some known antennas include a lead that is received within a hole (e.g., an electrical via and/or thru hole) of the circuit board. The lead is then soldered to the circuit board to electrically connect the antenna to the circuit board. For example, the lead may be soldered to a contact pad positioned on a surface of the circuit board adjacent the hole and/or may be soldered to electrically conductive material of the hole.
It may be difficult to solder the leads of at least some known antennas to the circuit board. For example, an operator may need to hold the antenna during the soldering operation to support the antenna and prevent the lead from falling out of, and/or becoming misaligned within, the hole of the circuit board. But, holding the antenna while the lead is being soldered to the circuit board may make it more difficult for a single operator to complete the soldering operation. For example, the single operator may be required to perform the soldering operation with one hand while holding the antenna with the other hand, which may increase the difficulty and/or time required to mount the antenna to the circuit board and thereby increase manufacturing costs and/or reduce production numbers. Moreover, and for example, soldering the leads of at least some known antennas to circuit boards may require two operators, for example one operator to hold the antenna and another operator to solder the antenna to the circuit board. The use of such a second operator to complete the soldering operation may increase manufacturing costs and/or reduce production numbers.